


Short Steps

by AudibleEllipsis



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Diamond & Pearl & Platinum | Pokemon Diamond Pearl Platinum Versions
Genre: Childhood Friends, Friendship, Gen, Pokemon Journey, Pokemon Platinum, Rivals, Short, Short & Sweet, Snapshots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:15:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21812797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AudibleEllipsis/pseuds/AudibleEllipsis
Summary: Dawn and Barry are embarking on an adventure, but the shape it takes is nothing new to them. Even so unalike, they've been friends for a long time, and hopefully they can meet in the middle as rivals for even longer. A series of snapshots along their journey.
Relationships: Hikari | Dawn & Jun | Barry
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	1. Head Start

Dawn fiddled with some mittens, soft and pink, tugging them on. Adults were dumb, and she was smart. At least, they were dumb about the stuff that mattered, and she was smart about the stuff that mattered. It wasn’t complicated. 

Pokemon were… cool. awesome. capable. wild. friendly. animals. powerful. pretty. scary. big. small. And everything else.

Barry was pretty smart too, in all the ways that mattered. She got the sense that other people might not think so all the time, because of the way they usually sighed as soon as he bolted off, or the way some people talked, but they were just dumb. He was quick, and she wasn’t. He was hot-headed, and she wasn’t. He was determined, and she was collected. He was excited, and she was withdrawn.

And that was fine.

They got along as well as any two Pokemon might, despite everything. He dragged her to see stuff, talked about his dad, about Pokemon the same way she did, and while she did research, he was coming up with ridiculous plans. Plans that she always gave serious thought, and returned with some sort of counter. Neither of them could be trusted with a Pokemon yet, or so the dumb adults thought, so mostly they just followed each others’ imaginations.

And that was nice.

Until one day. Until _this_ day.

Dawn finished putting on the gloves, and kneeled to lift her Turtwig into the air.

“I’m gonna call you… Twiggy.”

Barry pat the Chimchar resting on his shoulder’s back. “You don’t think you’re gonna regret that later when he gets real big and cool?”

“Nah.” Dawn shook her head. “His name’s Twiggy because… that’s what he is.” And he’d always be Twiggy. It wasn’t complicated.

“Then maybe I should nick-name mine.” He leaned a little, head tilted. “What do you wanna be called?”

_‘Chimchar!’_ Chimchar answered. 

“Well, that settles it! Chimchar it is.” He concluded with a mile-long smile. She stifled a laugh with one mitten.

“Chimchar sounds like a great nickname for a Chimchar.” She poked.

“Well, duh. It’s what he is.” Barry answered, nonplussed. “Just like your names. I think I like calling out what they are. Like, go, Infernape! Sounds cool, right?”

If it weren’t for the slightly beat-up pokemon on his shoulder, she knew for a fact he’d have wound up his arm as hard as possible and mimed throwing a Poke Ball. 

“Sounds cool.” She agreed.

It was easy to think Barry was impatient. Plenty of adults seemed to think so. Just about every day, he liked to pretend he might leave to do stuff without her, but he always waited, and she always hurried a little, even though he never made her pay those fines.

And it was easy to think she was slow. Plenty of adults seemed to think so. Just about every day, she liked to take time getting ready, and didn’t do much more outside than stare and listen, but Barry could always expect her to get involved when asked.

If he hadn’t been so fast, and she hadn’t been so slow, they’d have never met in the middle just in time to be caught by the Professor. And they’d never have been set off on a journey like this. It wasn’t a surprise in the morning when Barry was already gone, and she had to pick something up for him. It wasn’t a surprise either, when she arrived in Sandgem and Barry had already had a talk with the Professor, and his Chimchar already looked a lot stronger.

But more than unsurprising, when he looked her dead on in the eyes and promised with 110% of his energy that he was on his way to beat the Oreburgh Gym, it was nice to know that every step of the way, they’d be meeting up again.

“Take the head start. You’ll need it.”

“Ha! If you take too long, you’ll regret it! I’m not just getting a head start, I’m getting a head-head start! No, a head-head- _head_ start! So don’t be late, alright, or I’m fining you a thousand Poke-Dollars!”

She laughed behind a mitten again. “I think we’ll be making more than that soon enough.”

“Yeah. Yeah, we will! So, don’t let me down.”

“... I won’t.”

And it was a promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by my recent playthrough of Platinum. I have a few scenes in mind I might do later, focusing more on Dawn's journey, but for now... just a one-shot. Hope you enjoyed, and let me know if you want more of this.
> 
> E: I'm doing more anyways lol


	2. The Same Dirt

Dawn set down in the dirt, back flat against the ground. The ground was a little damp, and mostly there were only leaves above and not stars, but she didn’t really care. It was nice. Twiggy the now Torterra had settled behind her, as curled up as someone that big could get, taking in long, snorting breaths. Peep the Gardevoir sat leaned against him, one hand loosely stretched in her direction. Somehow Peep always seemed to make tired and sore feel nicer. Artoria the Pachirisu was curled up on her chest, using an angled Light Screen above to block out the pitter-patter of rain that was still coming down.

It never seemed to stop raining around Pastoria City.

Dawn drew up her scarf, not wanting to catch cold.

Her eyes absent-mindedly traced the patterns the rain formed along the almost completely see-through sheet above. Meeting, separating, stalling. But no matter how they traveled, each and every one came back to the same dirt. She watched them and thought back to a year ago. The same view, but from the window of her room.

* * *

“Hey, check it out, look how high the water goes!” Barry yelled from outside. He was playing in the rain and mud, because of course he was. Mom had made hot cocoa, keeping her hands warm. It was cold out, so she didn’t open the window, but looked on, taking sips. At first she thought he was talking to himself, but of course he wasn’t.

“Hey, you’re all the way up there, can’t you tell me if I top my record?”

She nodded.

“What’s that? Can’t hear you! Open up a bit, would you?”

Her fingers slipped uncertainly to the cold handle, and slid the pane aside just a crack. It was windy, too. He was definitely going to get sick.

“Yeah, come on, isn’t it great out!?” He jumped again and spun around, the bottom of his pant-legs pretty much ruined.

“It’s cold.” She answered in what was to her practically a shout. It was enough to be heard. The rain wasn’t loud, and it wasn’t hard. It just was.

“Aw, it’s not so bad!” He said with wide-spread, upturned arms. “Now come on, how’re you gonna be able to tell me if I really beat my record if your window’s all fogged up and stuff?”

She thought about that a moment, and laughed quietly. “You just want me to get in trouble for getting my room wet.”

“Wha--?” He looked genuinely offended for a moment. “No, come on, I just wanna jump!”

“Kidding.” She said simply. And slid the thing wide open. The wind blew past the shell of her ear and brushed her bangs aside. The air was damp, and she set the mug down on the sill, fingers stretched over as she leaned out a bit. Barry looked confused, like he sometimes did whenever she did some things. “Go on.”

And all that disappeared as he grinned wide, and jumped higher, and harder. He tried scooping water up in his hands to make a ‘mega-puddle’ at some point, and after a little debate, she tossed the plastic cup she usually kept her colored pencils in down to help.

A not so far voice. “Barry? Barry, what in the blazes are you doing out here?” His mom came out, not shouting, but disappointed. She never yelled at him.

“I’m, uh, jumping up and down?” He answered, already knowing better. And then sneezed, because timing never seemed to be on his side.

“You’re coming back inside, mister.” Hands on hips. “And Dawn, you should know better than to encourage this. I’ll be speaking to your mother tomorrow.”

She frowned.

“No no wait, it was all me!” Barry used both arms to gesture to himself. “I convinced her to get involved, so it’s my fault.”

“Is that so?” His mother asked. Dawn said nothing, then nodded after a look from Barry. “Well, in that case. Dawn, be sure to close that window and clean up. Too much water will warp the floorboards.”

Barry was taken away by one arm. Not jerking, just was. He waved awkwardly with the other. Dawn sighed, and went downstairs.

Mom was on the couch, watching a rerun of the latest Contest in Snowpoint. They usually watched them together live, and Mom always pointed out a bunch of people by names that she could never remember. She thought about the places a lot though.

“Mom, could you make me another hot chocolate?” Paused. “And put some marshmallows in it?”

* * *

Dawn stroked a mittened hand up and down Artoria’s fur, the pokemon chirping in appreciation. Minutes seemed to stretch while she breathed in the cold, damp air. The sky, what little wasn’t blocked out, was nothing but thin grey clouds colored white at the edge by the big bright moon behind them. 

Slow was nice. 

The night was nice.

But… 

She never thought quiet could feel so lonely.

There wasn’t any rustling, but she recognized the wingbeats of Tooty, her Noctowl. The big bird came back with big eyes that reflected the bits of light in the sky, holding onto a big bundle of dry wood for a fire. She dropped them all proudly a little ways away, coming to a rest beside her trainer. Dawn sat up, causing Pachirisu to tumble and huff before scrambling to sit on one shoulder instead. She reached up and scratched at the owl’s neck, the tall pokemon crooning.

“Good work. But, change of plans everyone. We’re pushing it until we make it to Pastoria.”

Usually the night ended there. Usually if she walked it was with only one pokemon out at a time so the rest could save energy. But tonight was different. Tonight she climbed onto Twiggy and let him walk because he loved being big enough to carry her. Tonight Tooty scouted ahead and scared away some Sevipers because she took pride in doing good work and Artoria demanded more scratches because she seemed to always need them, even when she knew she’d done a good job. And Peep walked beside them, eyes somehow shining enough to make the marsh a little brighter, quiet humming to fill the air next to wind whistling through leaves and all the buzzing, croaking sounds around them.

Tonight she’d make sure everyone felt a little nicer.

The walk wasn’t too too long, but she was never the best judge of time. When they all made it to Pastoria, she put everyone but Artoria back in a ball, letting them rest. The town wasn’t quiet, because it was mostly just a big broad clearing along a stretch of less-muddy-ground surrounded by more trees, but it was dark. A couple small buildings still had lights on, but there was only one she really cared about. 

Ahead was the tall, wide Pokemon Center. She stepped past the sliding doors, wiped her feet, and was greeted with a wave by a tired looking Nurse at the front desk (most of them looked that way). Her eyes scanned to the right, to a couple PC units that turned the faces in front of them bright white. Not him. Then to the left, in the broad waiting area with cushioned couches and about a dozen trainers resting with their own little partners, he was splayed across the back of one, facing the entrance. His Infernape (still called Infernape) was coiled up beside him, head-flame more like a lantern than a Contest-starting torch.

She walked to the front and fished some poke-dollars from the front pouch of her bag. “A bag of gummi worms and two hot chocolates.” A rumbling stomach. Quieter, “And a sandwich.”

“Sure thing little miss.”

It all came back, and she traveled across the waiting room to sit beside him, careful to put it all down on the coffee table in front before waking him up. She nudged once, and was surprised that it wasn’t enough. Wondered how long she’d kept him waiting this time. And nudged again.

“Whuzzat!?”

“Shh.” She reminded gently. Then held out the open bag of gummies. “Snack?”

He rubbed at his eyes pretty hard. Took a look around while the Infernape also began to stir. “... Hot chocolate, huh?” And took a couple gummies, chewing.

“Yeah.”

“My mom says I’m not supposed to have it.” He said for some reason. “Or gummies.”

“I don’t see her.”

“Ha! Guess not.” Grabbed it and the warmth seemed to make him smile wider. “You’ve really changed.”

She shrugged. “Not really.”

He took a long, long sip. “... Maybe not.”

She took a bite of what turned out to be a pb&j. “You too.”

He shrugged. “Nah, not really.”

They both leaned back and she looked at the skylight, thick glass that let the stars through. It wasn’t often she got to just talk to Barry. It probably didn’t take him being tired to do it, but sometimes it felt that way. She let out a breath. “Let’s battle tomorrow.”

He fished through the bag at his side as well and snapped open the badge case, showing the Fen Badge. “This pretty much says you’re gonna lose, you know?”

She nudged him with an elbow. “Didn’t the last couple times.”

“That was before I perfected my strategy.”

“‘Not getting hit’?” She repeated.

“It’s the perfect plan.” He said proudly.

“We’ll see.”

“Yeah, you will.”

And they left it at that.

* * *

In rainboots, a beanie and a bag, Dawn came across the town to knock on Barry’s door. His mom answered. A question of if she could see him, and being told he wasn’t allowed visitors right now.

“Please?” She added, almost never saying so. It was for a project, and she needed something from him. It was fine, so long as she was quick. A reminder to take off her boots in the foyer, ‘not that such a responsible young lady needs any reminders’.

Dawn carried up the stairs and knocked.

“Uh, come in?” The confused voice on the other side. Barry was sitting on the bed in a fresh pair of clothes. A hand dug through her bag and fetched a thermos.

“Trade?”

Barry came across the way, now more confused. “Trade for…” Understanding came quick. “Cup! The cup, your cup, omigosh,” He launched across the room to pick it up from his desk, already cleaned. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to take it! But, uh, I mean, it’s yours, so, you don’t have to trade me something to get it back?”

The wrong understanding. She smiled though, and took it, then put the thermos in his hands. “Not for the cup.”

He began to unscrew the lid, coming to the right understanding. “Oh! Oh, I mean, I didn’t do anything and you didn’t do anything, so it’s not like-- Is this hot choc--!?” A shout hushed by the quickness with which she raised a finger to her lips. The motion was surprising enough.

“With marshmallows.” She said, letting the finger fall away.

“Wow, maybe I should almost get you in trouble more often.”

Dawn rolled her eyes. “Don’t be a butt.” He gasped.

“I didn’t know you _knew_ bad words…” It was hard to tell if he was joking or not, but it made her laugh anyways, covered by a palm. He rubbed the back of his head, and she turned to leave.

“Just give it back tomorrow or I’ll fine you ten thousand poke-dollars, alright?”

He grinned. “Yeah. Yeah, you got it!” 

And at the door before she walked away, he made a little noise. She listened to the rain on the pane, pausing.

“And, Dawn? Thanks.”

She smiled, and nodded.

“You got it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just gonna keep making these whenever one comes to me. It'll probably be loosely chronological, but I might go back and do an early battle or something. I'm definitely at least gonna do _a_ battle sometime because those are fun.


	3. Smart Like Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm uh, skipping ahead a lot here, technically, but all you need for this one is the last two chapters anyways. If I end up wanting to go back, I will, but like, this one hit me like a lightning bolt. I'm pretty happy with it.
> 
> Enjoy the Distortion World and Cyrus.

Dawn hummed while watching Cyrus deliver his speech at Galactic HQ. Looker, probably correctly, insisted that they not go out and cause a scene just yet. It was a bit frustrating, since her Pokemon could definitely take on all the grunts below, but it would only take _one_ of them getting lucky enough to restrain _her_ for it to be over.

“What’s your take on the situation?” Looker asked.

“He’s smart.” She said simply.

He might have even been smart like she was. At the very least, he wasn’t dumb like a lot of adults were. It took something to get this many people believing in you, just like it took something to get a pokemon to believe in you. He was a good trainer. Looker frowned.

“It might seem that way, but the truth of what he aims to do is rather foolish.” The special agent was usually half-right, just like he was always half-lost. The man cared, clearly. He was a good trainer too. But something about that focus on a goal bothered her.

“He’ll do it though.” Dawn responded. “He knows what he’s doing. That’s all he really needs.”

“For both our sakes, I hope you’re wrong.”

* * *

The Red Chain disappointed Dawn. It made her upset, too, but more than anything else, seeing the way it worked was disappointing. Cyrus hadn’t seemed like someone who would need a tool that mean.

The old scientist who didn’t really know how to care might have needed something like that, but Cyrus never should have.

Pokemon who didn’t care wouldn’t have fought as hard as his did.

People who didn’t care wouldn’t have fought as hard as they did.

The other Galactic leaders, their own Pokemon, and every single grunt along the way.

Barry stood beside her now. “... You’re really gonna jump in that thing, huh?”

“...Yeah.”

Barry kneeled down and poked the portal. His finger disappeared. There was no way to see through to the other side. “If you don’t come back, I’m--”

“--’going to fine you 10 million dollars’?” Dawn cut in.

The boy smiled, slightly. “Nah. I’d just be sad. You owe me enough as it is.”

Dawn smiled too. “I’d hate to make you sad.”

“Guess you’ll just have to make it back then.”

“Guess I will.” Dawn called on her Noctowl, and the bird grabbed onto her shoulders, starting to flap. A little wave later, and both were gone.

Descending into a world that only barely made any sense, she was glad. Barry had said exactly what she needed to hear.

* * *

“Do you know about genes?” Cyrus asked.

“Sort of.” Dawn said.

The man’s expressions were small. He tucked his hands into his pockets. Dawn wondered if he didn’t know what to do with them. Cyrus went on for a while, explaining how this world might have come to be, and why the shadow they’d seen earlier must have interfered. It hurt to hear, a little, even if it all made sense. But she didn’t understand exactly why until the man’s head turned away from her to the vast space around them.

“But all of that is irrelevant.” He said.

Irrelevant? Dawn frowned. The tone told her a lot, but she wasn’t completely sure she knew what the word meant.

“You don’t think that stuff matters?”

His gaze flicked back to her. “For my purposes, at least. It doesn’t matter _why_ the Pokemon interfered, only that it did. That it was content with setting me aside is foolishness. I won’t allow anything to stop me.” A pause, while he looked her over. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

It was weird. Cyrus seemed to like asking people questions, but then he would say those answers didn’t matter. Maybe he was convinced they really didn’t. But if that was the case…

“I guess… because I really thought you were smart.” _Smart like me,_ she didn't say. “I thought you knew what you were doing?”

“Excuse me?” That made him angry, like adults who always thought they knew better than a kid.

“Another world that’s only perfect for you…? Why does it have to only be perfect for you?” She could feel tears starting to build. “If you could make anything, why wouldn’t you make a world that’s perfect for everyone?”

“Because that’s impossible.” He tried.

“Why?”

“Too many people need too many things. Space and time are finite, no matter how they’re stretched out. To make a perfect world for everyone alive now, I would need to cater to an infinite set of desires. With time, the list would only grow. Such a world would be paradoxical at best, and ultimately, _truly_ noninteractive at worst. It would be like… a computer program. No matter how smoothly the program operates, it would always return the same result.” He looked away again. That anger hadn’t quite faded, but there was something else too. It looked familiar. “My desires are simpler. There would be no trouble catering to them.”

Dawn wiped her eyes. Maybe he was stupid, but… she’d been stupid too.

Maybe Cyrus had just never had a Barry.

“Is space and time really all there is?” She asked, trying her best not to feel small. “Or do you think there’s something else?” The man looked back again, face neutral. “I could tell you about how… over a year ago, I got a friend in trouble, and had my mom make some hot chocolate to make up for it. You would know when it happened, and where, but would you really know why with just those two things?

“I could tell you about how I met the most timid little Hoothoot I’ve ever seen, and how well she’s done since the night I caught her. Over time, you could see how many times she’s won, but would you ever know how brave she was? Would you ever know how proud of her I am?”

The more she spoke, the easier Dawn found it was to stand tall, gloved hands turning into little balls in front of her while she smiled.

“And I could tell you about a boy I like, who could have been miles ahead of me by now. He could have beaten the League by now, honestly, but he waited for one slow little girl. It’s what he’s always wanted to do and… and he waited anyways. That could never make sense if all you were looking at was space and time.” She took a breath. “Computer stuff does what we tell it to because that’s all it can do. Life does what it wants to because that’s what we _need_ it to do.”

Cyrus turned away.

“... Maybe you do.” And walked off.

“... We all do.” She said confidently, when he was gone.

* * *

When the Shadowy Pokemon confronted her, Dawn didn’t send out any Pokemon of her own. She didn’t take out an ultra ball, a dusk ball, or even a great ball. She took out a single poke ball and started talking.

“Giratina… that’s your name, right?”

The thing trilled, echoing off nothing.

“Giratina, I want to keep us safe. And… I want to help someone. So long as you’re around, this place will be too, right?”

It trilled again, touching down in front of her.

“Good. I want to make a promise.” Dawn reached out with the ball, the little nub facing out to Giratina. “I think you understand how important this is. And, I don’t think I’d want to be in a poke ball for a long time either, so I won’t be mad if you say no. But…” She drew herself up, trying to be every bit as confident as she should. “I promise to protect you, until the person I can help is safe too. With a bit of space and time to himself, I’m sure he’ll see things the same way you do. So, w-will you come with me?”

There was a long pause, and Dawn could feel Cynthia’s eyes on her. Giratina stared into her own, but she didn’t back down. She refused to flinch. This was too important.

This _mattered_.

And with another, much softer trill, Giratina’s head craned down, nose pressing against her tummy. She couldn’t help laughing, seeing a thing like this want some affection too. Dawn pet one of the most powerful pokemon in the universe, and had confirmed that what she’d thought of humans was true of Pokemon too. They all needed this.

Afterwards, Giratina formed a portal back to their world, then craned its neck back and pressed gently against the nub of the poke ball. It wiggled three times in her palm, and Giratina had been caught.

When Dawn turned back after hearing footsteps, she knew it would be him.

“That didn’t make any sense.” Cyrus said.

“Maybe not yet.” She answered.

“... How ridiculous.” He looked genuinely frustrated. “To think, my life’s work has been undone in the span of minutes. No… no, that’s not right.” He frowned. “I suppose my life’s work was already being undone from the moment we met, all those days ago.”

Dawn said nothing. Just listened.

“I could tell you were different at the lakefront, because you listened. But I didn’t come to think of you as exceptional until much later. Even now, I don’t think I grasp the differences between us. My incomplete spirit… there was nothing insincere in your gestures, nor your speech, and yet I feel nothing but anger now. …I can’t understand why.” He turned away. “This is no mere difference in opinion. Between our battles and the feat you’ve just demonstrated, I can see that I have been lacking something. Not the desire to succeed, nor the means, but perhaps… the capability to truly succeed was always beyond me. What would I have done, in that perfect world, I wonder? Could my own needs truly have been met for so infinite a time? Or would I have been mistaken? I can’t say for sure.”

Cyrus took out a poke ball and sent out his Crobat. “This place… it suits me just fine for now.”

Dawn smiled. “I’ll come back soon, then. Maybe with some big books you might like? I’ll ask the Professor. He’d probably know.”

She couldn’t see his face, but Dawn was confident the man was smiling too. “If you must. Obviously, I cannot stop you.”

And with that, he went off.

Cynthia clapped a hand on her shoulder, before moving through the portal. “I’m looking forward to your challenge, trainer.”

Dawn looked out at this strange world. All the infinite nothing and something in between. Somewhere out in it all, Cyrus was exploring with a Crobat he didn’t need to send out at all.

That was all Dawn needed to know she’d been right.

“See you soon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See you next update <3


End file.
